3 essentials of my winter breakfast

All of us crave different things in different seasons. I personally am not a big fan of soups in summer, smoothies in winter and in general I don’t eat as much food in Winter as I do in Summer. Our bodies function differently since we adapt to our environment. Here are three essentials I suggest giving your body for your winter breakfast:

1. Lemon water:

First of all, I’m not a big fan of pure water during winter times. I prefer herbal teas and lemon water. The main reason is that cold drinks in winter make my stomach go crazy and I prefer lukewarm drinks.

Why lemon?

Not only do lemons boooost your immune system which is super important during winter/ cold season, it also helps your digestive system, boosts your metabolism, gives you energy, increases your mood and helps your kidneys. I’ll give you some examples but there are maaaany more:

Digestive system: The acids of lemons help your stomach during protein digestion and promotes the liver’s bile production, which optimizes fat digestion and prevents digestive problems including constipation.

Boosting the metabolism & helping the kidneys: After a long night’s sleep, the body needs water. Due to the lukewarm lemon, our body can absorb and process this water even better and easier. Lemon juice also helps regain lost fluid and detoxifies by boosting urine output and stimulating kidney metabolism.

Giving energy & increasing your mood: not only is lemon juice rich in potassium and magnesium, which boosts your concentration and prevents stress, but it also improves your mood and counteracts (winter-)depression.

Therefore, I squeeze one organic lemon in a manual juicer and fill up a glass with 500 ml cooked water and 500 ml cold water.

I suggest if you need some extra sweetness, add some stevia or xylit.

2. Vitamin D:

From October to April I supplement Vitamin D in tablet form. I got mine from here.

Why supplementing Vitamin D?

As you know, our ancestors were born in Africa. The people back then lived closer to the equator, ran around naked all day long in the sun and worked outside. Our lives today are more like this: most of us don’t live close to the equator, we have clothes on all day long and we get hardly any sun during Winter. Also, most of us work inside. Vitamin D is produced with the help of solar radiation. So in order to prevent a lack of Vitamin D, which increases the risks of diabetes, cancer, heart diseases, kidney diseases, MS, we need to supplement.

How does the body use vitamin D?

In our kidneys, vitamin D (btw, it’s actually a hormone) is converted into its active form. The hormone helps to release calcium from our intestine into the blood and bones. In case of a lack of vitamin D, our body is not able to absorb enough calcium that our organs and tissues need. However, vitamin D is involved in a variety (so maanny more) of metabolic processes and functions in the body.

Therefore, I take one tablet each morning before I drink my 1 l of lemon water.

3. Hemp seeds

I’m not a big fan of chia seeds, since I think the texture is weird and they don’t really have a good taste. That’s different with hemp seeds.

Why hemp?

Again, there are wayyy too many reasons why hemp seeds are good for your body. Here are some examples:

Super rich in amino acids: amino acids are important since our body can’t produce them, they have to be ingested. Hemp contains 10 amino acids and is therefore the best protein source. This is beneficial for our body to enhance our immune system and our regenerative capacity.

Burns fat reserves: hemp also plays an important role when it comes to our fat metabolism. During the processing of protein in the stomach, hemp releases a protein that promotes the burning of fat cells. As a result, fat pads can be dissolved.

Hemp seeds can be used for mueslis, on your avocado toast, in your smoothie, basically you can use it for any meal that you prefer. I love porridge during winter times with cashews, fruits and some hemp seeds on top. I got my organic hemp seeds from here.